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Thursday, February 17, 2011

Varsity playoff leftovers

Seeding the WPIAL boys and girls basketball tournaments must be a difficult, arduous task. With 161 teams in the postseason, the sheer number of qualifiers makes it an unenviable place to be, and a spot where it's impossible to please everyone.Washington High School girls basketball coach Mike Maltony sure didn't mind getting the No. 8 seed in the WPIAL Class AA pairings. That's about where Maltony projected his Prexies to land."It's about what I figured. I have no problem with it," Maltony said.What Maltony finds weird is whom Washington (15-7) might face in its first-round game. The Prexies draw the winner of Friday night's preliminary-round game between Greensburg Central Catholic (16-6) and Bentworth (12-9).Bentworth plays in Section 4-AA with Washington. The WPIAL frowns upon section opponents in first-round games and this is the only instance in any of the brackets where the possibility could happen."I feel like the Steelers playing the Ravens," Maltony said. "It's disappointing to an extent but, then again, what do you do? There's only so many slots."Washington swept the season series against Bentworth.The question is, what message is this sending? Since the WPIAL does everything possible to avoid section opponents playing in the first round and this is the only occurrence - boys or girls - where it can happen, did the committee say Bentworth has no chance of winning?* Avella, Carmichaels, Bentworth and Jefferson-Morgan – the four qualifiers from Section 3-A boys – got little love from the committee.Avella and Carmichaels were co-champs. The Eagles (12-9) and the Mikes (12-10) received the No. 11 and 12 seeds, an extremely low number for a section champ.But Section 3 struggled this season, winning just 11 non-section games compared to 58 losses. It's tough to put either team higher even if it put Avella and Carmichaels against opponents who also split a section title.Avella plays St. Joseph and Carmichaels plays Serra Catholic. They were co-champs of Section 4.* If I could go to any first round game, I might pick Chartiers Valley vs. Norwin in Class AAAA boys. I think the Colts advance but it would be interesting to see if they'd be willing to run up-and-down with the high-scoring Knights or slow the game's pace.

3 comments:

Anonymous
said...

One of the tuff tasks for the wpial is seeding for the playoffs,you cannot keep all teams happy, but in some cases it does not make any sence at all. how does a 4th place team F.C get to play a 4th place team cal, and a 2nd place team burgettstown get to play a 1st place team. S.S.A. in every other case a 2nd plays a 3rd, and most 3rd plays a 4th but burgettstown is the only 2nd to play a 1st can anyone explain this?

Let me explain. The WPIAL is absolutely terrible at what they do. I would rather see them seed the teams based on where you finish in you section. For example if you finish 4th your seed will be either a 13, 14, 15, 16th seed.

The seedings are a joke now. All that can be said is in the playoffs you have to beat the best to be the best regardless of how much a joke the WPIAL is.

I speak only on my behalf and represent no one else.it is true that we got a very tuff first round game for a second place team,but to be honest, were pleased with the seeding and the seeding would have played to our favor in the second round had we won,in the end all of us must play the hand we are delt,and we had no problem with the seeding. the future is bright at burgettstown there are some very good young players.

About the blogger

A devoted fan of the Grateful Dead, Bob Marley, 1990s rap and Tom Petty, Mike Kovak works as a sports writer for the Observer-Reporter, a newspaper located in Washington, Pa. Kovak covers high school sports – from football to softball and everything in between. He's known to appear at the random Pitt football and men's basketball game or the occasional West Virginia game and previously helped Steelers beat writer F. Dale Lolley at home games. When not tracking college basketball – his sport of choice – or watching That 70s Show reruns, Kovak is busy playing Mr. Mom for his daughter, Anna Noel Kovak.

Kovak was hired by the Observer-Reporter in 1999. He previously spent two years at the Beaver County Times and four months as an intern at the Tribune-Democrat, located in Johnstown.

Kovak invites any and all movie buffs to exchange lines from classic comedies, such as Anchorman, Caddyshack and The Hangover.

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